Small Businesses, Big Results: RynohLive

Richard Reass owned Reliant Title for 18 years, and in that time, he saw how the real estate settlement industry’s archaic processes were costing companies millions of dollars every year because of rampant fraud and errors.

“Tremendous amounts of money are handled every day in the title industry, and criminals want to find ways to get that money,” Reass says. “I wanted to streamline processes to help save companies time and prevent costly fraud and mistakes.”

Photo by Jim Pile

To stop fraudsters in their tracks and to prevent errors, Reass designed RynohLive, a web-based application that offers absolute financial protection for escrow account management. The software is fully automated, freeing up employees’ time for higher-level tasks.

“Other systems required a login process and a bunch of clicks,” Reass says. “RynohLive can be set up so that employees don’t even have to be in the office for things to go smoothly.”

One of the fraud-protecting benefits RynohLive offers is the ability to track checks through Positive Pay, a service that allows businesses to send the bank a list of the checks they wrote. The bank then compares the list to the checks they receive to make sure everything matches. If a check is not on the list, the bank can flag it and follow up with the company.

Another key component of the RynohLive software is daily three-way reconciliation. “It used to be that companies only reconciled their accounts once a month,” says Reass. With RynohLive, accounts are reconciled daily, allowing for better control of funds and data. “I knew people in the industry were looking for something like this,” says Reass. “Up to that point it was a long, laborious process often done by hand.”

Even though the industry needed something better, in the beginning Reass struggled to convince his colleagues. “When I first started out, no one could see the value of the software,” he says. “I spent a lot of my time educating people, delivering presentations and speaking about flawed industry standards and how those processes could be changed and improved.”

In 2009, the Great Recession exposed the corruption within the real estate industry, and people started taking note of Reass’s new software solutions. “In the wake of the economic downturn, automatic daily reconciliations and Positive Pay started to make more sense,” Reass says.

RynohLive took off in 2012, and in the past few years the company has seen remarkable growth. In 2016, the company landed a spot on Inc 5000, a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. Currently they serve 2,000 clients in 47 states.

Reass’s software has helped revolutionize the title industry and realize his vision. “We are saving companies millions of dollars every year from fraud and errors,” he says. “I feel so much satisfaction to be able to set my own course and to work with such skilled staff members to make it all happen.”

Looking to the future, Reass hopes to offer similar software for different industries, including systems created with small businesses in mind. “I believe in continuous incremental improvement,” he says. “If you want to be successful, you must stay ahead of the competition.”

For those starting out, Reass offers some words of advice: “Take a deep breath, step back, and have a clear vision,” he says. “In the beginning, you may want to save a buck or two, but be sure you have a really good accountant, banker and attorney. Above all, always know where your money is coming from.”